Stay on target

Twitter just recently decided to kill its Vine video sharing app, but that has not deterred the original creators of the app. Vine’s co-founders have been working on a new video streaming app called Hype. There’s something incredibly bold about calling an app “Hype.” Will Hype live up to its own hype?

Hype aims to offer a richer live streaming experience. Think of it like Periscope with more interaction with the audience. While running a Hype stream, you can create polls, have a Q and A, and share additional media with viewers. The host’s video doesn’t have to take up the whole screen, so you can put yourself in a smaller bubble and use the rest of the canvas for GIFs, videos, or highlighted comments.

It’s a much looser format for video live streams that give the host the chance to make something unique. Every one of the examples in the demo video looks different, and that’s kind of refreshing. Of course, there’s always the danger of adding too much clutter to the app that it ends up confusing or hard to use. The barrier to entry needs to be low in video streaming apps to make them viable for casual use. Hype will need a large and engaged community to be a success when it’s not explicitly tied to an existing social network.

Hype is currently available on iOS, and the early reviews are reasonably good. An Android version of the app is expected in the not too distant future.